The feeling is that tuition certainly needs to go up, said Sen. Evelyn Lynn, chair of the Higher Education appropriations subcommittee, "But being cognizant of the Governor's desires as well, this is a starting point."

At the same time, the committee recommended cutting 400 million in nonrecurring general revenue funds to the State University System, or by about 25 percent. Lynn said that's because universities still have a great deal of money left in their operating funds.

The Florida College System would see a slight increase in state funds under the Senate proposal, about 1.1 percent. Factoring in the three percent base tuition hike, that's a 2 percent revenue increase, Lynn said.